Dr. Sanit Aksornkoae, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart Univ. Bangkok, Thailand

Mangroves are important components of tropical coastal ecosystems and provide important renewable resources to these regions. In the Kingdom of Thailand, Mangroves play a very important role in peoples lives and the economy. The value of mangrove forests can be expressed in common ways such as the following; as a "Timber bank" producing wood for charcoal and firewood, as a "Home" for varieties of marine and terrestrial animals, as a "Kitchen" producing food for people and animals, as a "Water Treatment Plant" in purifying water, as a "Hospital" in providing medicines, as "Lung" in purifying air in coastal area, as a "Carbon bank" to reduce global warming, as a "Coastal wall" in protecting soil erosion and wind stress, as a "Natural laboratory" for studying and finally as a "Bridge" in connecting the land and the sea.

Vast areas of Mangrove forests in Thailand have been destroyed each year, either intentionally or as a secondary result of other activities. The main problem is that the dense population has been progressively from inland to the coastal areas and the trend is increasing every year. This has led to an increased demand in coastal areas for food, fuel, resettlement areas, building matterials, urbanization and land for agriculture. Conversion of mangrove forests to aquaculture (shrimp ponds) is the most important threat of mangrove destruction. It was estimated that the mangrove areas has decreased from 180,559 ha in 1989 to 167,582 ha in 1996. However, according to a recent survey in the year 2000, the mangrove forest increased about 48,000 ha, due to large scale national rehabilitation programme as well as public participation in planting, protecting and conserving mangrove areas.

The Government of Thailand has made longstanding and significant efforts through the National Policy to manage mangrove forests sustainably. In order to achieve the management, conservation and sustainable development of mangrove resources, currently four main activities regarding National Forest Policy are to be developed and implemented immediately: Research / applied knowledge, Restoration / protection, Awareness / educaiton, and Demonstration / sustainable management systems. The presentation will be properly discussed in details of these activities.